Everything is Connected

There are times in our lives when it’s easy to forget how connected everything is. Times when life gets a little too tough and stressful and we end up paying more attention to our own well being in a way that disregards the cost and the consequences to the world out there; the people, the environment and everything else that’s a part of it. We find ourselves being selfish – not because we want to be but because circumstances force us to be.

That’s how the world got into the state that it’s in now. Here’s a neat 20 minute video that explains it all.

On this website I’ll be exploring and adding videos and articles that help to expand and explain the rich and diverse complexity of the world we live in – complex but not complicated.

Latest News

[rNASA Television to Air Russian Spacewalk at International Space Station Two veteran Russian cosmonauts will venture outside the International Space Station for a spacewalk Wednesday, May 29, to retrieve science experiments and conduct maintenance on the orbiting laboratory. Source: Eurogamer. http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-television-to-air-russian-spacewalk-at-international-space-station-0

Recycling: poorer countries can now refuse plastic waste imports – this could make the system fairer The world generated 242 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2016 – a figure that’s expected to grow by 70% in the next 30 years. But this same plastic is also a commodity that’s sold and traded in a…

Withdrawing life support: only one person’s view matters Shortly before Frenchman Vincent Lambert’s life support was due to be removed, doctors at Sebastopol Hospital in Reims, France, were ordered to stop. An appeal court ruled that life support must continue. Lambert was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in 2008 and has been diagnosed as…

Climate change: ‘We’ve created a civilisation hell bent on destroying itself – I’m terrified’, writes Earth scientist shutterstock The coffee tasted bad. Acrid and with a sweet, sickly smell. The sort of coffee that results from overfilling the filter machine and then leaving the brew to stew on the hot plate for several hours. The…

Ultra-processed food causes weight gain – firm evidence at last Darryl Brooks/Shutterstock We know we should eat less junk food, such as crisps, industrially made pizzas and sugar-sweetened drinks, because of their high calorie content. These “ultra-processed” foods, as they are now called by nutritionists, are high in sugar and fat, but is that the only reason they cause weight gain? An important new trial from the US National Institute…

Tragic tale of a ‘man-eating’ tigress tells us so much about the climate crisis A tigress in the Indian state of Maharashtra, where Avni also lived and died. RealityImages/Shutterstock The way that we live on Earth is causing an unprecedented acceleration in species extinction. Now, more than half a million species “have insufficient habitat for long-term survival” and are likely to go extinct unless their natural environments are restored. But…

Cyber attacks are rewriting the ‘rules’ of modern warfare – and we aren’t prepared for the consequences Structuresxx/Shutterstock Governments are becoming ever more reliant on digital technology, making them more vulnerable to cyber attacks. In 2007, Estonia was attacked by pro-Russian hackers who crippled government servers, causing havoc. Cyber attacks in Ukraine targeted the country’s electricity grid, while Iran’s nuclear power plants were infected by malware that could have led…

How to break our bad online security habits – with a flashing cyber nudge Shutterstock/ESB Professional The number of cyber attacks is estimated to have risen by 67% over the last fivee years, with the majority of these data breaches being traced back to human error. The potential risks of such attacks are vast and can have a serious impact on both organisations and individuals. But protecting ourselves against cyber…

Wandering Earth: rocket scientist explains how we could move our planet Aphelleon/Shutterstock In the Chinese science fiction film The Wandering Earth, recently released on Netflix, humanity attempts to change the Earth’s orbit using enormous thrusters in order to escape the expanding sun – and prevent a collision with Jupiter. The scenario may one day come true. In five billion years, the sun will run out of fuel and expand, most…

How to make health news interesting — without overselling the claims Roman Samborskyi/Shutterstock Health stories are prolific in the news. Each year, thousands of articles are published claiming to have the latest compelling evidence on how we should eat, drink, exercise, sleep, and which medications we should or shouldn’t be taking – among a host of other things. Not only is there a deluge of information, it is also often conflicting. Reports on statin use, for example, have stated there are associations between taking them and living longer, ageing faster, reduced stroke risk and increased diabetes risk. Every day, these reports are read and shared by millions, potentially influencing our decisions and behaviour – but how do we know that the evidence we’re relying on is strong enough? Writers need…

Climate change is putting even resilient and adaptable animals like baboons at risk Villiers Steyn/Shutterstock.com Baboons are large, smart, ground-dwelling monkeys. They are found across sub-Saharan Africa in various habitats and eat a flexible diet including meat, eggs, and plants. And they are known opportunists – in addition to raiding crops and garbage, some even mug tourists for their possessions, especially food. We might be tempted to assume that this ecological flexibility (we might even call it resilience) will help baboons survive on our changing planet. Indeed, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which assesses extinction risk, labels five of six baboon species as “of Least Concern”. This suggests that expert assessors agree: the baboons, at least relatively speaking, are at low risk. Unfortunately, my recent research…

Rape myths like ‘stranger danger’ challenged by global drug survey Fake news. Shutterstock. Many of the beliefs people hold about rape are downright wrong. For example, women are often told they can avoid sexual assault by monitoring how much alcohol they drink on a night out. “Don’t leave your drink unattended” and “drink from bottles instead of cups” are common pieces of advice. There’s even a wristband that’s marketed as a “simple, wearable test to see if your drink may have been spiked”. This is because alcohol and other drugs are widely thought to increase women’s vulnerability to sexual violence. At the same time, such substances are often said to be the cause of – or an excuse for – sexual aggression in men. This can even lead to double…

Plastic warms the planet twice as much as aviation – here’s how to make it climate-friendly Gorlov-KV/Shutterstock We’re all too aware of the consequences of plastics in the oceans and on land. However, beyond the visible pollution of our once pristine habitats, plastics are having a grave impact on the climate too. Newly published research calculates that across their lifecycle, plastics account for 3.8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That’s almost double the emissions of the aviation sector. If it were a country, the “Plastic Kingdom” would be the fifth-highest emitter in the world. Read more: Plastic is now part of our planet’s fabric – a scientist and archaeologist discuss what happens next Demand is set to rise, too. At 380m tonnes a year, we produce 190 times more plastic…